Top Five Highlights Of The Year - December 30, 2021

Top Five Highlights of the Year

As we approach the New Year, I’m pleased to share some of Green Century’s° top ten highlights with you. Earlier this week, I shared numbers 10-6, and here are our top five highlights of 2021:

5. Getting Apple to Reverse its Course on Right to Repair 

Green Century played a pivotal role in pushing Apple* to change its restrictive repair policies. The company announced a new program that will provide replacement parts, tools and repair manuals so consumers can perform common phone and laptop repairs themselves. 

Our non-profit partner U.S. PIRG has led a multi-year Right to Repair campaign to press Apple and the tipping point came this fall when Green Century filed a shareholder resolution. On the day that Green Century was posed to defend the resolution to the SEC so it could proceed to a vote by Apple shareholders, the corporation announced its ground-breaking new program. The Verge, a leading technology information platform, described Apple's move as "a huge victory for Green Century and a validation for shareholder activism more broadly."

4. Achieving Highest Shareholder Votes of the Season and with Amazon

When we asked Amazon* shareholders to back a proposal to reduce the company's plastic use across its operations, including at Whole Foods, we secured the corporation's highest vote ever in support of an environmental shareholder proposal. With 35.5% support (44% of independent shareholders), that record-setting vote followed shortly after our success at getting the highest vote (98.8%) on an ESG (environmental, social and governance) proposal during the entire 2021 proxy season. That came at Bunge*, which is a major agribusiness. These wins showed how shareholders can flex their muscles when firms like Green Century give them the chance to do so. 

3. New Program Launched to Stop Fossil Fuel Projects 

Green Century launched a new campaign, called Insure a Fossil Fuel Free Future, to stop insurance companies from supporting new fossil fuel projects by ending the process of underwriting these dirty, dangerous efforts. Green Century and the fossil fuel free investing movement have scored many successes, but getting insurers to step up is vital in the effort to stop fracking and drilling projects. 

2. Securing National Media Coverage

Green Century attracted national media coverage for our efforts, ranging from the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg to CBS This Morning, the BBC and the popular podcast, How to Save a Planet. Educating individual investors about fossil free investing and helping financial advisors determine what is authentic environmentally responsible investing versus what might be "greenwashing" is a growing part of our mission, as is securing coverage for our shareholder advocacy program that gets companies to change their policies and practices. There are too many articles to list here so please see the full list on the Green Century Media Mentions page on our website here. 

1. New $1B Milestone during our 30th Year Anniversary 

As we celebrated Green Century's 30-year anniversary, we reached a momentous milestone: hitting $1B in AUM. When Green Century launched in 1991, there were very few ways for individuals to align their investments with their values. Thankfully, a group of nonprofit leaders in The Public Interest Network recognized the need and desire for environmentally responsible investing and founded Green Century. Today, there are numerous firms talking about ESG ratings, but most are just getting started in figuring out how to truly do any kind of sustainable investing. As the investment advisor to the first family of fossil fuel free, diversified and responsible mutual funds, Green Century knows what it's doing. To get more information, click here for our impact and here specifically for the work we do with companies through our shareholder advocacy program.